The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Dendranthema grandiflora and hereafter referred to by the cultivar name Empire Pizzazz.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in New Hartford, N.Y. The objective of the breeding program is to create new garden-type Chrysanthemum cultivars having inflorescences with desirable inflorescence forms, attractive floret colors and good garden performance.
The new cultivar originated from a cross made by the Inventor in 1996, of the Dendranthema grandiflora cultivar Empire Diablo, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,586, as the female, or seed parent, with a proprietary seedling selection identified as H87-23 as the male, or pollen parent, described as a dark red decorative-type garden Chrysanthemum.
The cultivar Empire Pizzazz was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in New Hartford, N.Y., in September, 1997. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable inflorescence form, attractive ray floret color and excellent garden performance.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in New Hartford has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.